Two Chances
by haiskupiia
Summary: What if Darren had followed R.V. to the tunnels in book nine, saved Debbie and placed the clan second in his order of importance? Would things change? Read it, if you want. Spoilers for book nine.
1. The Choice

Hi!

First: I _do not_ own Darren Shan.

Second: This is my first fanfic, so be nice to me, please:)

Third: I´m Finnish, so there can be lots of spelling mistakes.

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"So, what do you think, Shanny? Your life for Debbie's." R.V. said and laughed. I could feel Mr. Crepsley, Vancha, Alice and Harkat watching me.

I was quiet for a while. I knew what I had to do, but I didn´t want to... But I was a Prince. First comes the clan. I had to...

"No," I said.

"Think it over, Shan. Debbie is going to die, in a _very_ painful way." The vampaneze said.

I was going to repeat my answer, when I found myself looking deeply into his eyes and answering:"Okay."

Then it came a terrible, quiet moment, before Mr. Crepsley sighed and R.V. nodded and grinned.

"_Well, well, _that´s the right answer, Shan. Now, follow me."

I gave a final look at Mr. Crepsley, Vancha, Harkat and Alice. They didn´t look angry, but a little sad. "Sorry," I whispered before running after the vampaneze.

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-So what do you think? I know it´s really short, but it was just the beginning, next chapter will be longer!


	2. There

I followed R.V. through the black tunnels. I couldn´t see much, it was so dark. I heard R.V. laughing every now and then, and whispering somehting, but I didn´t heard what.

After a long time R.V. stopped. I almost walked into him, but he grabbed my shoulders just before, pushed me into a large room, then came after.

I looked around me. There was a small light, coming from a small, dirty lamp on the ceiling. The room was almost empty, but in one corner stood two vampaneze, and

middle of them was..

"Debbie!" I shouted and took couple of steps closer. "Darren," she said. "I´m so sorry about this. And... I love you, Darren. So much.." Then she broke into tears.

"I love you too, Debbie..." I said quietly.

"Awwww, such a romantic moment," R.V. said in a sarcastic voice. "But now, let´s start the work."

He clapped his hands twice, and I saw six vampaneze dropping from the ceiling.

"Oh crap..." I whispered. One of the vampaneze took my right hand, one took my left. R.V. came in front of, and faced me an evil grin on his face.

Then he started to tell me that the others was walking into a trap, that Mr. Crepsley was going to fight their Lord, Gannen Harst and Steve Leopard.

I almost tried to bite him, but I thought that the others would have harmed Debbie if I harmed R.V.

Well, Mr. Crepsley was very good in fights... but three against one...

"And Shanny, you know what?" R.V. hissed. "There was a chance, so you could fight our Lord. Almost like you could give your life for Mr. Crepsley's. You screwed it up.

You chose your tasty little girlfriend. And you´re going to die. But, old uncle R.V. is so nice, that he gives you another chance!"

I stared at him. Debbie stared at me. "Darren. I´m not going to let you give your life for mine. I´m going to fight and d-..."

"Don´t." I said and smiled to her. Then I faced R.V. again. "Continue."

He giggled. "Well, we are going to let you fight, Shanny. You cannot fight our Lord, but you can fight us. If you loose, you die. If you win - what I doubt - you can live...

Oh, and Debbie is free to go... or will she stay and watch?"

"I´ll stay!" Debbie said. I was just going to argue, when the vampaneze drew their weapons.

"Oh, great..." I whispered to myself. "It´s one Darren and nine vampaneze..."

R.V. heard my whisper and said coolly:"Yeah, that´s life, man."

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Well, it wasn´t much longer, but I hope you liked it...even a little bit?


	3. The Fight

I stared at the vampaneze, who came closer all the time. I drew my sword and was ready to fight. I knew I couldn´t make it, but I made a promise - I should take so many

lives I could with me..

I heard Debbie gasp, R.V. laugh and the vampaneze snarl. One of them jumped towards me. Well that was kind of stupid... I pushed my sword deep into his flesh. Really

easy.. He cried for pain, and the floor was full of blood. So was I.

Then a thought came into my head. _Only their Lord was able to kill the hunters_. Able to kill me.

"Wait a sec!" I shouted to R.V. I could see disappointment in his eyes, when he looked at me. "You can´t kill me!" I almoust laughed.

"Damn..." R.V. whispered. Then he shouted to other vampaneze:"Just capture him, our Lord is going to kill him later."

I sighed. I was going to die anyway...

Then I threw a couple of knives at the vampaneze. Two of them jumped aside, but one couldn´t react so fast.

He got my knife into his chest.

When I watched him fall, one of them went behind me. Before I noticed, I felt how a sharp sword sank into my flesh. I cried for pain and turned around. I saw a tall, scarred

man an evil grin playing his lips. He was just a vampet, and the cut wasn´t deep, but I couldn´t do anything. Another vampet was behind me again and when I used my

sword against him, the scarred vampet raised his sword, ready to kill me.

"Stop!" R.V. shouted to him. "You can´t kill him, you son of a..-"

"Oh be quiet!" The scarred vampet said. "I am not a vampaneze. This is your war, not mine...I want to kill him and you cannot stop me!"

When R.V. cursed, he turned to face me again.

I quickly made peace with God and thought that this was a good way to die as any. I closed my eyes and was ready...but I never felt

the deathly blow. I opened my eyes and saw Debbie hitting and scratching the scarred vampet. I gasped for surprise, then took her hand and ran away like a coward.

But I didn´t mind, I had other thoughts in my mind.

R.V. quickly jumped between us and the door. Debbie and I took hold of his hooks and drew. The hooks fell on the floor and R.V. made a girlish scream.

"NO! MY HANDS! MY HANDS!" he shouted and collapsed to the floor with his "hands".

I ran into the dark and dirty tunnels with Debbie and heard the vampaneze follow. There was just one thought in my head: Mr. Crepsley´s fight against The Lord of the

Vampaneze.

That´s when I heard a familiar voice shouting:"C'mon boys, let him go! We´ll catch him later. Now, just get out of here! Ouch! Gannen, you stepped on my toes! Look that

dirty footprint on my shoe!"

Steve.

But if Steve was there, the fight was over. I ran even faster now, Debbie with me. I heard R.V. shout:"This is not over, Shan! I´ll find you, and that´s the end of your life,

man..." An evil laugh followed those words. But I had no time to think R.V. I had no time to think even Debbie, who followed right behind me. I had to find out what happened in that fight...

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Next chapter will be last... I know it´s short... I just hope it wasn´t too bad.

Please review!

And I know I said "be nice to me" but you don´t have to! Flames accepted!


	4. The Truth

I´m running through the tunnels. Here and there. There and here. Left, right, left, righ, right, left, right, left, left again... Finally I see a big door. It´s open. I´m running through.

I´m running, running, running... Ouch. I´m not running anymore. I´m sitting on the floor. I ran into Harkat. Ouch, it did really hurt.. I think I hit my head into the floor.

I can see stars... No, not stars. A tiny Mr. Crepsley is flying in a circle over my head. Lots of them. They are laughing at me... How dare they.

Umm, it´s dark here... I see nothing.

Oh, someone is calling my name. "Darren! Darreeen... Do you hear...me? How many...fingers do you...see? Darren..."

I think it´s Harkat. Owww, it hurts. My head is in fire... _Very_ painful. Now where did Harkat go? The darkness is going away...

Now I can see him. Yeah, like I thought, it is Harkat. Cool, he have six fingers now! No, seven... six again... No, eight... Well this is creepy... This is a creepy place..

Err, where the hell am I, anyway? In Vanchas bedroom? Hell no.. Where did that come from? Umm...Oh, I am in the tunnels. Yeah... And Debbie is safe. I´m safe, too...

Mr. Crepsley is not safe. Oh... Now i remember... MR. CREPSLEY! THE FIGHT! Oh crap...

Everything went clear. Why am I sitting on the floor? No time for that. I stared at Harkat. He stared back a while, and then told me that Mr. Crepsley fought.

"I KNOW!" I shouted and jumped on my feet. I was scared, really scared. I had to find out what happened. Well, I could see it from their eyes, but it couldn´t be true.

There was a large pit of stakes and flames... I ran towards. Just before I was there, Vancha grabbed me and hold me still.

He looked into my eyes and said:"Darren. I... We...Umm... Larten is dead."

"NO!" I shouted.

"Yes," Vancha said calmly, but there was tears in his eyes.

"And...and what about The Lord of the Vampaneze?"

A sad smile played Vanchas lips. "He is dead, too. The War of the Scars is over."

I nodded, then collapsed on the floor. The war is over... Mr. Crepsley´s life is over, too. A terrible sacrifice. I never had a chance to say goodbye...

"It´s my fault." I whispered, tears in my eyes. "No," Vancha said. "You did what your heart told you to do. Larten is dead, you cannot change it. Im sorry..."

I stared in front of me, but could see nothing. That´s when Steve Leopard and Gannen Harst came back. "What a fight, Darren." Steve said sarcastically. "I´m sorry you

missed it. Bad for Creepy Crepsley..."

"Just do it, if you want.." Gannen said. Steve grabbed my hand, helped me on my feet and pushed me away from Vancha. He was going to come with me, but Gannen

stopped him and said:"Stay, brother."

"If you hurt him..." Vancha warned them. They took me over to the another side, where Gannen grabbed my arms and Steve whispered something in my ear. Those words

I´ll remember till i die, and the hysterical laugh from Steve´s mouth was the last thing I heard before everything went black...

_"I am the Lord of The Vampaneze."_

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Finally, the end. I know it was short, but I hope it wasn´t too bad. Please review! Flames accepted.


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